1937: (The Countryside Was Not Green Pastures — What Valcin and Few in the Urban Centers Knew Was That the Countryside Particularly the Farthest Inland Was N…

1937: (The Countryside Was Not Green Pastures — What Valcin and Few in the Urban Centers Knew Was That the Countryside Particularly the Farthest Inland Was Not a Bastion of Green Pastures, Instead Women and Men Were Crossing the Border into the Dominican Republic to Live and Work in the Neighboring Country for Little Pay but with a Hope Similar to That of the Girls Migrating to Haiti’s Urban Centers That the Alternative Location Would Offer New Opportunities for Economic and Social Advancement): What Valcin and few in the urban centers knew was that the countryside, particularly the farthest inland, was not a bastion of green pastures. Instead, women and men were crossing the border into the Dominican Republic to live and work in the neighboring country for little pay, but with a hope similar to that of the girls migrating to Haiti’s urban centers — that the alternative location would offer new opportunities for economic and social advancement. The generous soul of the Haitian land that Valcin had invoked was in fact a place people were fleeing, the pastoral fantasy of the countryside dissolving under the weight of the economic desperation that drove Haitians across every border they could find.